Wakesurfing is a sport that is growing in popularity. A wakesurfer, initially being towed behind a boat via a tow rope, rises to his feet on a surf board in a body of water (e.g., an ocean, a sea, a lake, or a river) similar to a waterskier or a wakeboarder. In order to achieve an ideal wakesurfing ride, the boat should generate in its wake a wave that mimics as closely as possible, in view of the type of body of water, a size, a shape, a power, and a duration, of an ocean wave rising, cresting, and breaking near a beach, enabling the surfer to traverse back and forth on a face of the wake wave and ride a crest of the wake wave, similar to an ocean surfer.
Wakesurfers have been attempting to surf in the wakes of traditional cruising boats, waterskiing boats, and wakeboarding boats. These traditional classes of boats typically are designed for one or more of speed, seaworthiness, and handling characteristics. A problem with attempting to wakesurf behind traditional cruising boats, waterskiing boats, and wakeboarding boats, however, is that such boats fail to generate sufficiently large, sufficiently well-shaped, and sufficiently long-lasting wake waves to give a wakesurfer a long satisfying ride.
As is well known in the field of fluid dynamics, a boat, when passing through a body of water, creates separate waves that move in the boat's wake. In general, separate wake waves originate, respectively, from the boat's bow, centerline, quarter, and stern. Each wake wave generally forms the arms of a V, with the source of the respective wake wave being at the point of the V (the boat), and transverse curled wave crests forming offset from the path of the boat. Wake wave height (Wh) is a function of several factors, including for example a speed of the boat hull in the body of water, resistance to the boat hull as it moves through the body of water, Froude number, a shape of the hull, a length of the hull, a length/beam ratio (L/B) of the hull, a speed/length ratio (SLR) of the hull, an amount of the boat hull in contact with the body of water, and an amount of water displaced by the boat as it moves through the body of water. Traditional cruising boats, wakeboarding boats, and waterskiing boats typically are configured are configured with planning hulls, have an L/B greater than 3.0, have light displacements, experience minimal water resistance when moving through the water, and have optimal seaworthiness and handling characteristics.
Wake wave shape (Ws) can be affected by several factors, including length of the waterline (LWL), air trapped beneath the hull, water flowing under the hull, and water flowing past the bulwarks of the hull. For example, air can be trapped beneath the hull by being admitted below a raised bow of a traditional boat. This air, exiting at the stern of the hull, creates turbulence in the wake, giving the wake wave an undesirable muddy appearance. Water flowing under the hull and past the bulwarks of a traditional boat typically is directed away from the wake, resulting in a wave shape Ws with an undesirable wave aspect, slope, and/or power.
A self-propelled wakesurfing boat, and a hull for a wakesurfing boat, is desired which will generate the largest, best-shaped, and longest-lasting wake waves possible in view of the boat's size, displacement, and speed.